This invention relates generally to television systems and, more particularly, to media controls for television systems that reward users for watching specified media content.
Various approaches have been used over the years to facilitate learning in children and adolescents. Some of these approaches to learning involve the use of educational multimedia programming. For example, various smart, electronic books and portable electronic tutors have been developed to integrate sound and video into the learning process. These electronic books and tutor devices may present advanced educational topics, such as world geography, foreign languages, and higher arithmetic, to children in a more fun and user-friendly way.
The aforementioned teaching techniques suffer from several disadvantages. For example, children may still become bored or disinterested in multimedia teaching methods. This boredom may stem from a lack of motivation to learn the material being presented. It may also be due to a lack of stimulating and interesting content. Children may also “zone out” or not pay attention to educational material being presented to them. Research has shown that boredom may be reduced while heightening attention and motivation levels by incorporating positive reinforcement and feedback into the learning process in a rich media environment.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a parental control system which improves the control parents have on the content that their children are watching, and/or, more generally, a content control system associated with a multimedia entertainment system (e.g., audio, video, or gaming system) that has increased flexibility in what content is accessible via the multimedia entertainment system.